TORONTO Change City

TORONTO'S NEWS

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Belinda Stronach Tries To Clear The Air On The Domi Divorce

2006/09/29 | CityNews.ca Staff

Comment  |   |  Bookmark and Share
Will The Domi Allegations Affect Belinda Stronach's Political Ambitions?

Just one day after Tie Domi issued what he pledged would be his only public statement on the breakup of his marriage, we have now finally heard from the alleged 'other woman'.

Belinda Stronach has broken her long silence on the affair that Leanne Domi insists broke up the couple's 13 year marriage.

While acknowledging she has a right to a private life, Stronach claims she's been left no choice but to "clear the air on a couple of points". And she adamantly denies coming between the couple.

"I do not want to speculate on the motivation behind making inaccurate and irresponsible public statements about me, but it is unacceptable to make them," she states. "Any problems between Tie and Leanne Domi are not related to me.

"I have a job to do in public life and I will continue to work with my constituents in areas of importance to Newmarket-Aurora and to the country."

Leanne Domi named Stronach in court divorce papers as the woman who broke up her marriage, accusing the former Leaf of threatening to leave her penniless if she took the matter to a lawyer and made the alleged affair public.

For his part, Domi failed to make any mention of Stronach at all.

"The truth is that after a number of years my marriage with Leanne has unfortunately come to an end," he attested in his own statement. "Our marital challenges are not a recent development. Indeed, in 1999 we separated for nine months. Since then, we have worked hard on our marriage but, sadly, it has been a struggle. I accept my part of the responsibility for the failure of our marriage but it has, indisputably, been a shared failure."

Stronach and Domi have been seen together at political fundraisers but both continue to keep silent on the nature or status of their relationship - or even if they have one at all.

The Domis arrived at a last minute temporary settlement earlier this week, just an hour before their divorce proceeding was set to hit the courts.

Statement by Belinda Stronach

"I have chosen a public vocation and I recognize the scrutiny and attention that comes with that. At the same time, I am an individual citizen and I respect the right of everyone to privacy in their personal life.

"Despite the inaccurate and irresponsible statements about me that have been made over the past week both to the media and in other places, I felt I could not make any public comments that related to the personal situation of Tie and Leanne Domi. Only they can speak to their own issues.

"But I think it is important to clear the air on a couple of points.

"I do not want to speculate on the motivation behind making inaccurate and irresponsible public statements about me, but it is unacceptable to make them. Any problems between Tie and Leanne Domi are not related to me.

"I have a job to do in public life and I will continue to work with my constituents in areas of importance to Newmarket-Aurora and to the country. I will also continue to be involved in the competitiveness of our economy, job creation, democratic reform, women's issues, girls' education, and issues around poverty in Africa on the global scale.

This is all I wish to say on these matters and, therefore, it is not my intention to make any further statements".